CA CA - Barbara Thomas, 69, Bullhead City, hiking wearing bikini in Mojave desert, 12 July 2019

[Elliot_Alderson]

They had water. Also alcohol may be a diuretic but beer has a low % of alcohol so it's the least dehydrating: What's the Least Dehydrating Alcohol?

Two miles is barely a hike, more like a walk. I don't think anyone brings emergency shelters or firestarters on walks of that length.

And now she's potentially lost in the desert for 5 days without any supplies so that worked out great, jmo.

 

[LietKynes]

Still nothing....

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

I'm male and while I'm sure there is a difference between a bikini top, a sports bra, and a regular bra, I'm failing that test if you gave it to me. They all look alike to me.

They’re all the same thing. Just made from different types of fabric.

 

[PaulR]

And now she's potentially lost in the desert for 5 days without any supplies so that worked out great, jmo.

Unless she brought five days of water with her, nothing else really would matter.

 

[whitelilac]

First I hear of a parking lot with a few cars seen in the 360 degree photo. Where were those people? Hiking around too? Maybe not far from where the camper was?
What if a person ran into Barb, somewhere in the vicinity of the camper? I think there's also the possibility someone was checking out the camper, or trying to break in, and harmed or took Barb who surprised this person as she approached.
I'm also thinking that Barb may have decided to explore a bit on that side of the highway, became disoriented, heatstroke or whatever. I hope LE has searched that side as well. Any boulder areas, thicker brush?
I'm not ready at all to cast suspicion on the husband....yet.

 

[neesaki]

OK they searched for her from the point she left him to their camper. What about searching the opposite way from their camper, going away from it the other way! She didn't go in the camper, he wasn't back yet, so she could have crossed on the other side of the camper and gone wondering that way. She seemed to have an obession of looking for rocks. <husband >road crossing>camper>beyond camper other side!!

I would be one to do that, I love rocks and can start looking and exploring and end up way further away than I planned.
Hopefully the searchers are looking everywhere out there.

 

[slowpoke]

If the husband thinks she was kidnapped and taken to Vegas area, is Vegas the area he and the family are searching?

According to this article:
“He’s asking people in surrounding areas, including Las Vegas, to be on high alert.”
Woman missing from Mojave Desert

Putting up flyers in the Las Vegas area might be a good idea, for a start. Seems he’s just saying via the media to bolo for her in those areas.

Some families are better at mobilizing and taking action. We’ve all seen that in these missing cases. I can’t blame him for not doing anything besides letting authorities do their thing (—if that’s what he’s doing). It’s got to feel overwhelming and surreal.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

First I hear of a parking lot with a few cars seen in the 360 degree photo. Where were those people? Hiking around too? Maybe not far from where the camper was?
What if a person ran into Barb, somewhere in the vicinity of the camper? I think there's also the possibility someone was checking out the camper, or trying to break in, and harmed or took Barb who surprised this person as she approached.
I'm also thinking that Barb may have decided to explore a bit on that side of the highway, became disoriented, heatstroke or whatever. I hope LE has searched that side as well. Any boulder areas, thicker brush?
I'm not ready at all to cast suspicion on the husband....yet.

I think the husband looks like a loving husband in the photo the way he’s holding onto her, but did we find out if there’s any proof besides the husband that she was actually in the desert that day?

 

[artsy1]

Just speculation, but since they are outdoorsy people and hike in the desert quite a bit it is entirely possible that if she did realize she was lost she dug a hole and buried herself a little bit in the sand to stay out of the sun and keep cool. This doesn't keep her head out of the heat nor keep her from getting heat exhaustion, but it helps extend the time before this happens by regulating your body temperature. The problem with this is that you are no longer visible, however normally when the sun goes down is when you would climb out. Unfortunately this has not happened yet which is what concerns me.

Good idea, but living in the desert myself, I can tell you that the desert ground is very hard to dig - even more so without any tools.

 

[Knox]

Good idea, but living in the desert myself, I can tell you that the desert ground is very hard to dig - even more so without any tools.

Unless it was a wash, I agree.

I wish SBSO would tell us something! In the Erin Corwin case they gave daily search updates in the beginning.

 

[ClaireNC]

@ClaireNC - shorts were in a facebook story - I posted the link on the summary post - #618 - trying to gather the known information so far from MSM. The shorts vs. bikini bothered me too. Not sure we will find that out for sure. JMO

Thank you for this and the summary!

 

[Twistinginthewind]

I read somewhere that they put the key under the rock specifically so each would know it was there. Almost like they expected to not arrive back at the camper together.

Mmmhmmm, all according to him, not her. So whenever someone says "they" here, it is caveated that 'according to her husband / RT.... they ____."

No one has any idea when BT was last seen or heard from, except a family member who posted here that 2 days before she went missing (Wednesday) she called relatives overseas who she was supposedly going to go visit this week, and said she was looking forward to seeing them, and was going to go on a trip where there may not be a way for them to reach eachother for a few days. Then she disappeared while on a trip in the desert with her husband, and he called these same relatives to tell them how sorry he was to report that she wasn't going to be able to visit them afterall because she was missing. Hinky, hinky, hinky, JMO.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

Mmmhmmm, all according to him, not her. So whenever someone says "they" here, it is caveated that 'according to her husband / RT.... they ____."

No one has any idea when BT was last seen or heard from, except a family member who posted here that 2 days before she went missing (Wednesday) she called relatives overseas who she was supposedly going to go visit this week, and said she was looking forward to seeing them, and was going to go on a trip where there may not be a way for them to reach eachother for a few days. Then she disappeared while on a trip in the desert with her husband, and he called these same relatives to tell them how sorry he was to report that she wasn't going to be able to visit them afterall because she was missing. Hinky, hinky, hinky, JMO.

Why would a distraught husband even remember to call her relations and cancel a trip in the middle an active search?

 

[PaulR]

Why would a distraught husband think it’s important to call her relations and cancel a trip?

It's hinky that he called relatives.

It's also hinky that he didn't call relatives.

I would do neither of these things if one of my loved ones was missing. MOO.

 

[ClaireNC]

First I hear of a parking lot with a few cars seen in the 360 degree photo. Where were those people? Hiking around too? Maybe not far from where the camper was?
What if a person ran into Barb, somewhere in the vicinity of the camper? I think there's also the possibility someone was checking out the camper, or trying to break in, and harmed or took Barb who surprised this person as she approached.
I'm also thinking that Barb may have decided to explore a bit on that side of the highway, became disoriented, heatstroke or whatever. I hope LE has searched that side as well. Any boulder areas, thicker brush?
I'm not ready at all to cast suspicion on the husband....yet.

(jumping off your post)

If she was on a hill or rock formation when she took the 360 photo, the parking area could have been pretty far away. When at a high point in a flat desert you can see quite a distance. However, if our guesstimates of the location they were parked are correct they were in the area of Granite Pass. Apparently there is a scenic vista point ¾ mile south of Granite Pass on Kelbaker Road. This is also 15.1 miles south of Kelso or 7.2 miles north of I-40. An off-road, paved parking area has been constructed to allow visitors to stop and enjoy the rock formations along this ridge of the Granite Mountains. So that could be the parking area in the photo.

According to the family, she went missing Friday morning before it got too hot. Someone else just pointed out that Friday, in the summer, there would be others setting out to get a jump on the weekend. So it is possible that there were other people around that saw something. Or, did something to cause her disappearance.

I believe it’s pretty standard for them to start with a grid search of a 2 mile radius of the area last seen. (That’s two miles in all directions). So hopefully they covered both sides of the road.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

It's hinky that he called relatives.

It's also hinky that he didn't call relatives.

I would do neither of these things if one of my loved ones was missing. MOO.

Whether or when RT has or hasn't made phone calls to relatives is not that telling IMO.
What I think is hinky, hinky, hinky is the whole situation, and the timing and lone witness to her disappearance.
BT vanishes into thin air during a walk in the desert with her husband.... just days before making a trip overseas to visit her ill brother in Hong Kong that she was apparently really looking forward to and was important to her. No one but her husband has anything to say about their comings or goings or planning for the trip to the desert or when she was last seen and how she was doing. JMO.

 

[Knox]

It's hinky that he called relatives.

It's also hinky that he didn't call relatives.

I would do neither of these things if one of my loved ones was missing. MOO.

RT apparently can't do anything right? Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. I'm still squarely on the fence. The only reason I might suspect his involvement is unless she was abducted, she should have been found by now per his account of what happened.

 

[PommyMommy]

hmmm i don’t have the sharpest memory but i’ll try to recount as best as i can - robbie and said he needs to talk to daddy and that barbara’s missing. it was a long story that started at the beginning on friday morning and progressed chronologically throughout the day. the impression robbie gave me was that she was wearing a red cap, a bikini and carrying a travel cup with beer in it. they lost sight of each other for 5-10 minutes before she “vanished” and he went back to their rv to see if she had returned but it was still locked so that meant she hadn’t come back yet (they had put the key under a rock which they both knew the location of). so he went back to check a shaded cave that they had found together earlier thinking she may have been taking a break from the heat but she wasn’t there either. he still wasn’t worried at this point because.. i don’t remember why he said he wasn’t yet worried. maybe because they both knew the area? or this was a regular thing? idk not sure but he continued searching for her on his own. by around noon time it was getting terribly hot so he started getting worried and called 911. police arrived like 2 hours later and searched for her. robbie said throughout the day they had sniff dogs, horses, hundreds of people and even a helicopter (which unfortunately couldn’t use its infrared function because it was too hot out to get any useful readings) and nobody could find any trace of her. searched throughout the night too. nothing. she had just disappeared. robbie admits “it doesn’t make any sense” that she just wandered off and got lost and there’s no evidence.. which is why he suspects she may have been picked up in a car. also because from the spot where she went missing she had to cross a highway in order to get back to where their rv was parked. also apparently she took a 360 picture that morning from on top of a hill and the photo included a parking lot with some vehicles in it so the police are looking into their license plates/info.

robbie said that he just wants barbara back and will press no charges against the person who abducted her so long as they return her. the call was delivered in a measured tone but he broke down a bit at this point, was tough to hear ..abc reached out? idk if it was abc but some mainstream news outlet and i definitely heard nancy grace mentioned. robbie’s done some interviews as he wants to get the word out. but he hasn’t seen or read any of the released news and comments. it’s too much

he said he keeps returning to the spot where he lost her and overturning rocks and searching and searching hoping to find something. he was there the day he called us although i think he said he shouldn’t really go back there as protocol says he’s the first suspect. he was even held for 5hrs in a cop car on the first day. it’s been nonstop and nobody is sleeping. robbie said he had held off on calling daddy to tell him the bad news because it was such devastating news and he was hoping she would turn up.. but he couldn’t wait any longer. he also said it’s difficult to call into china and said his calls rarely go through so if we want to ask any questions or talk more we should call him.
​

txt msg from my sister. wish i.asked.for this.earlier...

BBM

Thank you so much. I'm struggling to get caught up but just wanted to note that RT gave me a different impression in his interviews about his reaction when he discovered BT was not at the camper. IIRC, he said he hollered, waved his arms around, and panicked. It really stands out to me that he told family he "wasn't worried..."

I can see general stress leading her to walk / ride off. News of her brother, stress of a long and expensive flight, perhaps other small issues we don't know about.

IMO, her leaving on her own to get away from the stress would be a good scenario, all things considered.

She would have had those same stresses at home, though. Why choose to wait until you're out in the desert to walk/ride off?

Ok. If they hiked out together, why didn't they have the key with them, in a pocket or the pack? Why leave it under a rock?

I asked the same question as I've done a lot of hiking (Pacific NW, mainly) and have never done this. My keys are attached to a hook inside my backpack. Apparently, others do hide their keys near their cars, though.

Do we know who first described their activity as hiking? I've seen a lot of posts questioning her attire and beverage choice. If they were truly hiking, then yeah, I would expect her to be carrying water and wearing a t-shirt or something. But if they wanted to go for a short walk and look for rocks and things to take pictures of, then I can see wearing a bikini top and sipping a cold one. Did her husband say they were "hiking," or is it just because she was wearing hiking boots?

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office

I did see something yesterday that she was wearing a “bikini” top with shorts. Of course now I can’t find the source. That makes more sense to me. I also wonder why we don’t have a better description of what she was actually wearing.

I get the impression that her husband is almost blaming her for getting abducted because she was scantily dressed and carrying a beer.

The only source I've seen mention shorts was a Facebook post - try page 1 or 2 - it was posted by Knox.

Sorry for any duplicate responses - I managed to get super behind today.

 

[Betty P]

They had water. Also alcohol may be a diuretic but beer has a low % of alcohol so it's the least dehydrating: What's the Least Dehydrating Alcohol?

Two miles is barely a hike, more like a walk. I don't think anyone brings emergency shelters or firestarters on walks of that length.

Just for clarification, her husband mentioned that they carried a gallon jug of water with them, along with a "pack", I'm guessing a backpack. The problem, apparently, was that they got separated while he was carrying the water. IIRC, he was quoted saying this in the Inside Edition interview. According to family, they were experienced desert hikers.

Husband of Woman Who Vanished During Mojave Desert Hike: 'I Just Want Her Back'

Robert says they had taken a short trip in their camper when they decided to pull up and go for a 2-mile walk to explore rock formations. They took a pack, beer and a gallon of water, and Barbara was wearing a bikini, hiking boots with black socks, and a red-and-white baseball cap.

 

[ClaireNC]

According to Google Traffic there is a delay right now on Kelbaker Road just south of Granite Pass. Coordinates 34.8035664, -115.6121433. See the orange/red areas below. I assume this is the search area.